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How to Write a Thorough Accident Report

When an accident occurs at work, it’s imperative your company prepare a detailed accident report. This can help you with your recordkeeping and prevent problems in the future.

Accident reports need to be detailed and comprehensive, which means you need to include:

All the facts about the incident: It’s important to specify who was involved in the accident, including the names and job titles of all employees and supervisors who were affected. You should make sure the report provides details not just about the person or people hurt in the accident, but also about witnesses. The report also needs to detail what damage occurred to any equipment or materials and what specific injuries the affected employees sustained.

Details on the events leading up to the accident: It’s important to understand the specific set of circumstances that set the stage for an accident. That’s why the accident report should detail what the injured employee was doing immediately before the accident, what events were involved, and what happened in the immediate aftermath of the accident.

An analysis of the accident cause: Determining the primary and secondary causes, if any, is of paramount importance. Understanding injury causes can help you determine if an injury is work-related and should result in the worker receiving injury benefits. It can also help you assess what went wrong, whether any Occupational Safety and Health Standards were violated, and what can be done in the future to prevent similar incidents.

Recommendations for preventing similar issues in the future: This can be one of the most important components of the accident report. Depending upon the circumstances, the report may recommend performing preventative maintenance on machines; providing better training for safe work practices; and conducting job hazard analyses – among other possible remedies to make the work site safer.

Preventing accidents at work is a process that begins with hiring safety-minded employees. IES Custom Staffing can help you bring on skilled workers who take safety very seriously. To find out more about how our staffing service can help you, contact us today.